Vancouver Canucks draft mammoth-sized centre with 33rd pick
The Vancouver Canucks have started a trend at the 2026 NHL Draft.
With their two picks of the first round, the Canucks selected two players with size in Caleb Malhotra and Adam Novotny.
However, Brooks Rogowski is on a different level.
The Canucks selected Rogowski with the first pick of the second round (33rd overall) on day two of the NHL Draft. Rogowski is one of the largest players available in the NHL Draft, clocking in at 6-foot-7 and 235 pounds.
Rogowski is a late birthday in this class, turning 18 just two days before the draft.
The mammoth-sized centre had 15 goals and 42 points in 46 games. He also had three assists in four games for the United States at the U18 World Juniors in the spring.
Before the draft, Rogowski was asked to compare himself to another NHL player.
“I said Tage Thompson for most of this year, but thinking about it more, I think Blake Wheeler,” Rogowski told The Athletic. “He’s a bit of a more accurate one. He’s still a big guy, but more of a reliable defensive guy.”
The fact that Rogowski became an early pick in the 2026 NHL Draft is probably something that surprised him. Two years ago, he was playing high school hockey in Detroit, with his sights set on a baseball scholarship. Things changed when he was scouted and drafted by the OHL’s Oshawa Generals back in 2024.
“I really wasn’t a hockey player. I was more of a baseball player,” Rogowski told OHL.com’s Breanna McNeil. “I was going to play baseball or try to get a scholarship in baseball. I think a couple of months before the drafts, a couple of guys saw me and I got lucky.”
Rogowski also believes playing baseball and other sports helped him become a better hockey player.
“When I was younger, I played every sport under the sun,” Rogowski says. “I think just being a multi-sport athlete has really helped me develop transferable motor skills.”
While the Brighton, Michigan native compared himself to Wheeler, other scouts have compared him to more of a bottom-six player, like Michael McCarron of the Minnesota Wild.